Through the Looking Glass (and What Meg Found There)
by BryannaB709
Summary: When her mother sends her to a mental institution for her stories of Wonderland, Meg breaks out, and escapes to the only place that will truly be her home; Wonderland. But when she crosses through the looking glass, Wonderland and Topside become one, and Tarrant is driven mad by the chance that his family might have survived Horvendush Day, can Meg save the day again?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N:_ Here I am, people! Again! Here's Meg again, and this story is bound to be a lot longer than my previous stories in this crossover.

 _Disclaimer:_ I own nothing.

 _ **Through the Looking Glass (and What Meg Found There)**_

 **Meg's Return**

Now twenty-two year-old Megan Boggs leaned over the side of the ship's railing, dressed in her favorite Chinese-style green dress, and saw the harbor to California just a hundred yards away.

She smiled as she warded a lock of her thick brown hair out of her face, and watched as the harbor got slowly closer.

A brief half hour later, she ran off of the boat, both suitcases clutched in her hands, towards her waiting family.

Her mother and father were standing there with Edward, and they all smiled and ran forward to meet her in a huge hug.

She smiled, and shed small tears of joy as she said into her mother's shoulder, "I'm so glad I'm back!"

* * *

On the way back home, she talked about all the interesting people she met in China, and how she almost got sea-sick on the way home.

Edward, her mother, and her father all listened eagerly, considering she had been gone for four years.

They eventually drove up to their perfect home in Suburbia, and helped Meg carry her suitcases into the house while they asked her what she had done in China.

She sat down on one of the couches, and smoothed down her emerald-green skirt as she said, "Well, I fixed the problem in China, and then I expanded it to Japan, Australia, India, and North and South Korea! And after that, the company exploded to Brazil and even London!"

Edward smiled, and said softly, "That's excellent!"

Her mother smiled as well, and hugged her daughter again.

Meg smiled, and said, "I was thinking of putting a branch in California-"

Her father hugged her, and said, "Meg, you're brilliant honey!"

Meg laughed, and hugged both of her parents as she sat on the couch.

* * *

Two weeks later, Meg lied in her bed, deep in her sleep, when her dreams changed from strange wisps of blue smoke to Mirana, Alice, and Mally standing at the foot of her bed.

Alice was in tears, and Mirana and Mally were holding her hands and patting her shoulder comfortingly.

She looked up at Meg with pitiful watery blue eyes, and said through her tears, "Please, Megan, you have to come and help Tarrant! He's gone completely mad, he doesn't recognize me, or Mirana, or Mally! He doesn't even recognize our son! Please, Meg, you've got to come back!"

Mirana and Mally nodded, and Meg just looked on them with horror.

But as she tried to speak, they started to fade into the wallpaper of her room.

She reached out to catch them, but they were gone before she could stop them.

But Alice's voice screamed, "WAKE UP!" making her jolt awake in her bed.

* * *

The next morning, Meg had all but forgotten her dream, and Edward had asked if she wanted to come over to the castle for the day.

Meg agreed, and left the house.

While she was away, her mother decided to clean her daughter's room.

She found a small journal on Meg's desk, and purely out of curiosity, she decided to read a few pages, just to see what else Meg had done in China.

She opened to a random page, and started reading at the next date.

But instead of some details of her trip and her travels, one certain word stood out from the rest of the page; _Wonderland_.

She squinted, and read the word again, but it stayed constant.

She shook her head, and started reading the passage;

 _"So, I have to write down everything about one of my grandmother's old stories, it's just too mad to keep in one head. She told me about a strange land where everything is possible, and cats can disappear, and simple vials of drink can shrink you down to three inches tall! At first, I didn't believe her, but it was all real! The people down there call it Wonderland._

 _I met Nivens McTwisp, a white rabbit that carries a pocket watch; Thackery Earwicket, the March Hare; Chessur, a disappearing cat; and of course the Hightopps; Tarrant and Alice. They have been married for a long time, but they couldn't have a baby. Then there's the White Queen, Mirana. She's the sweetest person you could ever meet._

 _The time I visited, Mirana had gotten really sick, and she needed the tea made from a flower called the Nether-flower. I retrieved the flower from the castle of the Red Queen, Iracebeth. I got the flower to Mirana, and she was healed. She told me I could use the flower's power to grant one wish, so I wished that Alice and Tarrant could be able to have a baby."_

Her mother stopped reading there.

She closed the journal in her lap, and thought, "My daughter is genuinely crazy, just like her grandmother. I'll hate myself for doing this."

She waited until Meg had come back to the house with Edward for lunch.

Meg walked into the house, and said, "Mom? I've been trimming sculptures with Edward, and I need a drink of water please!"

Her mother stepped forward with a prepared glass of water, bearing a fake smile as she handed it to her.

Meg smiled, and said, "Thanks Mom!" as she swallowed the entire glass in one huge gulp.

Suddenly, the world started swaying around her, and she said in a slurred voice as she held herself up by the doorframe, "M-Mom, what's happening..."

She collapsed to the floor, and saw her world black out as the voices around her blurred together.

* * *

 _A/N:_ Sorry for such a short first chapter! They'll get longer, just this is the intro, sooooo...


	2. Suburbia Asylum for Delusional Minds

_A/N:_ Sorry for the cliff-hanger, guys! Thanks for the lovely reviews from SuperSentai199 and TitaHightopp05.

 _Disclaimer:_ I own nothing.

 **Suburbia Asylum for Delusional Minds**

Meg awoke to the distant sound of her mother's voice saying, "Megan? Meg honey, can you hear me?"

She blinked twice, and opened her eyes slowly.

Her vision was still a bit blurry as she looked around at her surroundings.

She was lying on a hard bed covered in dingy covers, dressed in a dirty smock. The walls around her were stark white, with the slight signs of wear.

She held her hand to her forehead, and tried to sit up, but her mother's strong hand laid her back onto the bed.

Mrs. Boggs said in a voice laced with worry, "Don't worry, Meg, darling, Mr. Morrison is going to help get those fantasies out of your head."

At that, Meg's eyes flew open, and she sat up completely, taking in the entire scene.

She was in one of the many beds in a large circular room filled with beds and tables, with a few shaky nurses walking through the beds carrying rags or trays of syringes.

And then all of her previous memories flooded back to her. She tried to jump out of the bed, but a nurse's strong grip pinned her back to the mattress.

She looked desperately to her mother, but she just walked out of the room, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

Meg swung her gaze to the man standing besides her bed, and her eyes widened in panic.

He was average height with slightly mussed brown hair, and his eyes might have been kind if they did not have that harsh glare in them.

His lips curled upward into a horrifying smile, and he said in a smooth voice, "Now, Ms. Boggs, just lie back, and it will all just be a bad dream."

Her eyes darted desperately to to unattended syringe on the table, and as the nurses started to relax their grip on her arms, she lunged forward, and shoved the syringe into Dr. Morrison's arm.

His smile disappeared, and he collapsed to the floor clutching his arm as Meg bolted out the open door.

She ran through the hallways, hearing the deranged screams from the other patients as she dodged past different nurses carrying trays.

She heard the guards yell, "Hey! Get her!" and ran as fast as she could towards the stairs.

She flew up the staircase with speed she never knew she had, and flung open the door to the roof.

She ran to the edge of the roof, and halted immediately when she saw the fifty foot plung to the ground.

But she heard the approaching footsteps and yells from the staircase behind her, and jumped out from the roof to grab onto a nearby tree.

She lept from the tree's branches down into the bushes. She pulled out another outfit she had snagged from the nurses, and pulled it on over her inmate smock.

She smoothed down the soft yellow fabric, and ran away from the asylum as fast as she could, and called a taxi driving nearby.

The doors opened, and she lept inside. She tossed the driver a wad of cash, and said in an exhausted voice, "Suburbia please."

The driver just shrugged, and drove off towards the neighborhood.

* * *

Back inside the asylum, Dr. Morrison pulled the syringe out of his arm, and limped over to the phone.

He punched in the number for Mrs. Boggs with his now-stiff fingers, and said, "Mrs. Boggs, your daughter Megan has escaped!"

He heard her astonished gasp from the other end, and hung up as she seemed to drop the phone.

* * *

Mrs. Boggs turned back to where her husband was sitting in the car, and yelled, "Meg's out!"

He choked a little bit, and said, "What?"

She looked at Edward, who was in the car as well, and said, "She'll go straight home!"

She whipped the car around, and sped down the street towards the house.

* * *

Meg ran out of the cab, straight into her home.

She bolted into her room, and held her grandmother's white dress to her chest.

She cried, "What am I going to do, Grandma?"

But somewhere in her mind, Kim's voice told her, "Meg, the only way this is going to end is to prove that Wonderland is real."

Meg lifted her head, and said softly, "That's it, isn't it. I've got to show them."

But she bowed her head again, and said, "But I can't risk it. They wouldn't believe me."

Then suddenly, through an open window, a soft blue butterfly fluttered into her room, and landed on the floor in front of her.

Meg lifted her head, and said, "Absolem?"

The butterfly nodded, and said in his deep, soft voice, "Follow me."

She stood up, and followed him as he fluttered out of the house, and started heading towards Edward's castle.

* * *

Mrs. Boggs slowed down as the car passed Phillip's house.

They were standing outside, catching fireflies, when Mrs. Boggs told them, "If you see Meg running through here, please tell us? She's run away."

Phillip nodded, and ran inside to start playing spy.

He was resting his chin on the windowsill when he saw Meg in her yellow outfit running after a blue butterfly.

He turned around with a start, and yelled into the house, "Meg's outside! She's chasing a butterfly!"

* * *

Absolem flew through Edward's castle, and flew up to a door that Meg could see Edward couldn't open.

She turned the doorknob, and followed Absolem into the dusty room, wiping cobwebs out of her eyes.

Absolem flew up to a neglected looking glass, and flew straight through it.

Meg frowned, and placed her hand on the smooth surface of the glass. Expecting it to stop her hand on the slightly cool glass, she was startled when her hand passed right through it like a soft mist.

She pulled her hand back, and looked at the mirror suspiciously.

But she heard her mother and Phillip yelling downstairs, "She's up there! Come on!"

She took a deep breath, and stepped through the glass completely.

* * *

Phillip ran after his dog into the room, and watched his dog bark after the empty space in front of him.

He bent down to the dog's level, and said, "Come on, what's the matter boy?"

But a bright flash of light flooded from the mirror in front of the group, and they all gasped as their world swirled and fluxed with something else that they couldn't identify.

Suddenly, the strange lights and sensation stopped, and Phillip opened his eyes.

He looked around at what used to be an empty room, and gasped.

* * *

 _A/N:_ Hopefully none of you forgot Mirana's prophecy from the last story! :)


	3. The Looking-Glass Room

_A/N:_ Hello there! Here's the third chapter!

 _Disclaimer:_ I own nothing.

 **The Looking-Glass Room**

As Meg stepped through the glass, she felt the entire world flux and move as a bright stream of light flooded into the room.

She shielded her eyes with her hands, and stepped forward slowly.

The light subdued, leaving behind a room very similiar to the room she had just left behind.

She looked around, and saw that everything was larger than her, and the dust had been removed from every single surface.

She looked over to the chessboard in the corner table, and saw the chess pieces were battling each other, throwing insults at their opponents.

She saw a thick lamp string hanging from the ceiling, and ran towards it in hoping to get over to the chessboard.

She grabbed hold of it mid-air, and slid down the string, wincing as her hands dragged across the rough surface.

The chessboard grew closer as she fell, and she pushed off of the string to launch herself onto the table.

Her knees buckled as she collapsed on the surface of the chessboard, and tumbled forward between two large knights.

The black knight reared back its gigantic head, and let out a large thunderous whinny as it charged right in the direction of tiny Meg.

Meg screamed and rolled out of the way, standing up once she was out of their way.

Unknowingly, she wandered towards the edge of the chessboard, and bumping into a hard, round something near the edge.

She turned around with a start, and saw a huge, round egg-like thing falling down to the floor below.

It rotated as it fell to face her, and said in a lowish, dull voice, "Not again."

Meg cringed, and said, "Sorry."

The egg man finally hit the floor, shattering into a dozen little pieces.

The white king piece on the chessboard ran over to the side, and yelled, "All my horses! All my men!"

Meg followed the knights down a long staircase stretching to the carpeted floor, and walked cautiously forward as they began putting who appeared to be Humpty Dumpty back together again.

She picked up a nearby piece that contained the majority of his face, and said, "I'm sorry."

He rolled his eyes, and said in his dull voice, "Oh, it happens all the time."

Meg frowned, and nodded slowly as one of the knights snatched the piece of egg-shell from her hand, and re-attached it to the rest of his body (?).

She warily walked away, and saw Absolem fluttering towards her.

As he grew closer, Meg could see that he was much larger than her, almost twice the height of her.

He flew lazily besides her as she walked towards the wall, saying in his smooth, deep voice, "You've been gone too long, Meg."

She nodded, and said, "Yes, I know."

Absolem just blinked, and said, "Tarrant will be gone before long, you had better hurry."

Meg frowned, and said as she opened a small door in the wall, "Why does everyone keep saying tha-"

Absolem interupted as she stepped through the door, "Watch your step."

But suddenly, where her foot should have met ground, it dove forward, sending her tumbling through empty space.

She tried to scream, but the wind tore her voice right out of her throat.

She fell through a ring of strange pink birds who looked at her curiously before she saw the ground approaching quickly.

She screamed again, and held her hands in front of her face before she crashed through the tree below her.

Meg crashed through the top branches of the tree, and had slowed down enough before she fell onto the flower bed below.

She picked herself up carefully, and looked around.

Suddenly, Alice's voice rang out, _"MEG!"_

Meg looked up, and saw Alice, Mirana, Mallyumpkin, Nivens, Thackery, Bayard, the Tweedles, and the Bandersnatch were sitting at a tea table encircling the flower bed.

A wide smile broke across Meg's face, and she launched herself at Alice to wrap her thin arms around her friend's torso.

Mirana actually shed a few tears as she hugged Meg next, patting her back as Meg laughed and said, "It's so great to be back!"

But Mally said darkly, "You're dreadfully late, you know, Meg."

Meg broke her hug with Mirana, and frowned as she said, "Late for what?"

Alice frowned, and said, "Well, three years ago, Tarrant and I had a baby boy. We named him Torin."

Meg said with a joking smile, "Well, isn't that good news?"

Alice nodded, but said, "But one month ago, Tarrant, Mally, Bayard, Thackery, Torin, and I were taking a nice walk through the woods, when Torin found a small blue paper hat in the grass. Tarrant took one look at that hat, and ran back to the house without one word to us."

She shed a small tear from her now blue eyes, and said with tears in her voice, "The days after that, he wouldn't talk to us, he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't sleep; when we visited him, h-he didn't even recognize us..."

She broke into a rough sob, and wiped her eyes as she choked, "H-He s-s-saw me, a-a-and he a-a-a-asked i-i-if I-I w-w-w-was someone e-e-e-else... W-W-When I r-refused, h-his eyes t-t-turned a dark shade of o-o-o-orange that should never h-h-h-happen to a H-H-Hightopp. He growled for me to g-g-g- _go away_ , a-a-a-a-..."

She collapsed into her arms on the table, and sobbed as her shoulders heaved.

Meg held her hands over her mouth, and said, "Alice, I'm so sorry. Where is he? Maybe I can talk to him?"

Alice wiped the tears from her eyes, and pointed shakily towards the waterfall, where Meg saw a small hat-shaped house on the cliff facing the tumbling water.

Meg nodded, and said, "Thank you."

Mirana nodded, and said softly, "Alice, you know that seeing Meg back in Wonderland might help him."

Alice hesitated, but then nodded slowly, wiping her blue eyes again.

Meg stood up, and said, "Well, I'll visit him, and see what's wrong."

She turned heel, and started walking her way up to the strange house.

Once she reached the small porch, she hesitated, but then gave three clear knocks on the red wooden door in front of her.

She waited for a brief moment, but then suddenly, the door flew open; causing Meg to jump slightly; revealing a much different person.

He had his orange hair, but it was down in a plain fashion, and his head was lacking a hat of any kind. His eyes were a melancoly grey, and his bright cheery clothes were replaced with a plain, black suit.

Nevertheless, Tarrant lept forward, and latched his arms around her shoulders with a cheerful laugh.

Meg smiled, and said, "Hatter!"

He broke the hug quickly, and said in a jittery voice, "Meg! You must have heard! My family is alive, and I need your help! Come on, let's go!"

He grabbed her wrist, but she frowned, and said sadly, "I'm sorry Hatter, they're dead. It's impossible."

He dropped her hand slowly, and said in a low dangerous voice as his eyes turned yellow, "You're not Meg."

She shed a small tear, and said, "Hatter, I don't understand-"

He growled as he pulled away from her, "Nothing is impossible."

He backed back into his house, and pulled the door close as he mumbled, "It's not you, it's not you, the real Meg would believe me."

The door slammed shut, and Meg backed away with tears in her eyes.

But she wiped them away as she walked back down to the tea-table.

She sat back down at the tea-table, and everyone stared at her intently.

But she shook her head, and said with more tears, "I'm sorry, he's getting worse. I'm afraid I can't help. He might die."

She rested her face in her hands, sobbing.

Alice choked, and fell to the ground as she sobbed into her arms.

Mirana tried to hold her composure, but she failed as a loud sob broke from her mouth.

Mally blew her little nose into her sleeve, Thackery hurled an entire tea-pot at a far wall in rage, the Tweedles took turns sobbing into each other's shoulders, Nivens sobbed into his paws, and Bayard and the Bandersnatch joined in a mournful howl.

Alice bawled from her position on the ground, her voice heavily layered with tears, _"I-I-I-I-I c-can't l-l-l-lose him!"_

Mirana, also in tears, placed her delicate hand on her friend's heaving shoulder.

* * *

 _A/N:_ Yay, longer chapter!


	4. The Chronosphere

_A/N:_ Thanks for all the lovely reviews; yes, Time is coming soon, it just depends on how long this chapter turns out to be.

 _Disclaimer:_ I own nothing.

 **The Chronosphere**

Meg wiped her eyes, and said, "Mirana, I think the only way to save the Hatter is if we find his parents. When I talked to him, he seemed so set on finding his parents, and when I told him they died at the Horvendush Day, his eyes turned that same shade of yellow, and he just shut me out!"

Mirana bit her knuckle, and said, "There is a way Meg. But it is extermely dangerous."

Meg turned to her, and said, "What is it?"

Mirana gritted her perfect teeth, and said, "You would go back in time."

Meg frowned, and said, "How would you do that?"

Alice wiped her eyes (which were still a sad shade of sky-blue), and said, "You would have to use the Chronosphere. It holds the power to take the user back in time."

Mirana cut in, saying, "But none of us can use it because all of us are in the past. If you see yourself in the past, it will unravel the very fabric of Time himself."

Meg clasped her hands underneath her chin, and said slowly, "I don't know about this."

But she looked up at Alice, and said, "But my grandmother risked so much for your people, and I would be a fool to not do the same. I'll do it."

Mirana smiled a small smile, and said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Meg nodded.

Mirana smiled again, and said, "Follow me."

* * *

Meg followed her out of the garden into the castle, talking to her along the way.

Alice went along as well after she wiped the rest of her tears away.

Mirana said uncertainly, "Meg, do you know exactly what happened when you passed through the looking glass?"

Meg frowned, and said, "No. I mean, there was a lot of flashing light, and I had shrunk a little, but other than that, I have no clue."

Mirana said, "Well, Meg, when you crossed into Wonderland for the second time, this world and Topside merged together, and became one. Your world is now ours, and our world is now yours."

Meg gasped, and dozens of thoughts rushed into her mind.

 _"That means Mom and Dad will try and find me-"_

 **"They'll think I'm crazy-"**

"They'll try and put me back, oh don't let them put me back-"

 _ **"They're coming for me-"**_

But she kept her cool, and said, "Mirana, my family tried to have me sent to an asylum for believing in you."

Alice placed her hand on Meg's shoulder, and said, "Meg, we'll all explain to your family and friends what's going on. We'll tell them everything about this place, and how Kim came the first time and saved us all. Twice! And then we'll tell them about everything _you_ did for us the first time you came! You won't let them hurt you."

Meg smiled, and said, "Thank you."

Mirana smiled her own mysterious smile, and opened a tall door leading to a sinfully dusty room with nothing but a singular grandfather clock in the center.

She gestured to the clock, and said, "Go through the clock, and it will lead you to Time's castle. You must ask him for the Chronosphere."

Meg smiled, and turned to Alice as she said, "I'm sorry I didn't get to see Torin."

Alice smiled, and said, "No problem. Again, thank you so much for doing this for Tarrant!"

Meg gave her friend one last hug before she gathered up her muchness, and stepped through the large front of the clock.

* * *

Thankfully, the clock didn't empty out into the sky.

Instead, Meg found herself standing on a rugged landscape facing a large clock face that seemed to be dug into the earth.

The land surrounding her was grey and desolate, like someone had taken a knife and drug it across the surface of the dirt, leaving holes and trenches amd jagged edges.

Meg saw that the only way to get to the dark castle across the chasm was to cross it using the clock's hands.

She gritted her teeth, and walked up to the side of the monstrous clock, waiting for the second hand to swing by.

Soon enough, it came whistling by her, and she lept onto it, holding on for dear life as it approached the minute hand.

She fell down to the minute hand, and grabbed desperately to it as it swung sharply to the next minute.

She stood up, and ran along the thin hand to the motionless hour hand.

Meg ran along the hour hand right up to the entrance to the castle, running inside its cold, dark halls.

Her footfalls slowed, and she looked around at the marvelous size of the hall around her.

From the outside, it looked much smaller than this, but from the inside, it was enormous.

The vaulted ceiling was almost nonexistant, stretching to what seemed like infinity.

The walls were a foreboding black, with thin veins of turquoise running through them.

Suddenly, a loud chittering, mechanical noise filled the halls, making Meg jump a little.

She swung around to face where the noises were coming from; a thick column with a small door at the bottom, with dozens of tiny little clock-work creatures pouring out of it.

One slightly larger tick-tock creature seemed to be herding them somewhere; with a tin mustache and an almost formal metal suit, and a small, sharp voice.

Meg bent down to his level, and said, "Can you please tell me where Time is? I must speak with him about something very important."

The tick-tock pointed an exasparated finger down one of the halls, and said, "Down that hallway, take a right, first door on your left."

Meg nodded a small 'thank you', but the creature was already running off after his little party of smaller creatures.

She followed his instructions, and saw a large doorway marked _"Underlings: Living"_.

She shrugged, and leaned to see into the large room.

There was warm, golden light pouring from every direction, and several shining golden pocket-watches were hanging from long golden chains from some unseeable height.

Coming from the doorway was a thin walkway that stretched in to what seemed to be the middle of the room, and standing on that walkway was who could only be described as Time.

Meg blushed as he turned around at some unheard sound.

He had a tall, straightish face, with blaring blue eyes that Meg could only describe as stunning. Hanging on his shoulders was a heavy black fur cape, with small spots of white fur dashed into the pattern.

Meg thought to herself, "Who expected the living personification of Time to be... cute!"

He snapped his fingers, and an out-of-sight golden pocket-watch extended down into his hand.

He looked deep into the gears, and said in a smooth, deep voice, "Yaxley Higiny, your time is up."

The pocket-watch slowly turned a dull shade of silver, and Time smiled as he unhooked it from its chain.

Meg ducked behind a nearby column as he turned around, and headed towards the room behind her.

She turned around, and saw the door was labeled, _"Underlings: Deceased"_.

He walked into the other room, and Meg could see that this one was darker; instead of the warm golden glow that the other room seemed to have, this room had a dark blue luster, and instead of pocket-watches hanging at random, these were hung in neat rows.

Time walked through the middle of the room, clutching the dead pocket-watch in his gloved hand, reading off the different names to himself.

He murmered, "Higgens... Hightopps, hmm, none there. Ah, Higiny."

He took the chain, and clipped it on top of the dead pocket-watch.

Meg leaned her arms on the door, causing it to close a small fraction, the old hinges letting out a horrifying creak that rung through the whole hallway.

Time turned around, and said, "What is it, Underling?"

Meg swallowed the gigantic lump in her throat, and said shakily, "Um, your highness, um, I need to, um, borrow your Chronosphere to help a close friend of mine."

Time frowned, and said, "Follow me."

* * *

 _A/N:_ There might be potential pairing between them in future chapters... keep reading for more!


	5. Time

_A/N:_ Sorry it's been so long! I've got school, and with school comes homework, and with homework comes that _black hole that steals away all of your free time!_

 _Disclaimer:_ I own nothing.

 **Time**

Meg followed Time through the tall, carved hallways, and into another room. Unlike the parts of the castle Meg had seen, this room was small and welcoming, with a ornate rug covering most of the floor, and wall-to-wall bookshelves filled with leather-bound tomes.

He sat down in one of the tall leather chairs, and said, "Underling, I will give you one minute to explain yourself."

Meg sat down in one of the other chairs, and started, "Well, you see, my friend Alice has a husband named Tarrant, and we are all close friends, a-"

Time rolled his eyes, and opened the front of his robes, revealing a small golden clock. He spun the tiny minute hand forward exactly one minute, causing Meg's speech to fast-forward at astounding speed.

"Andhe'sdiscoveredthathisparentsmightbealive,andhe'sgoingmadtryingtofindthemeventhoughthey'redead,andtheonlywaytogethimbackistosavehisparents,whodiedontheHorvendushDay,sotodothat,I'mgoingtoneedtheChronosphereplease!"

Met stopped talking and frowned.

She pointed at the tiny clock on his chest, and said, "Hey, that wasn't a minute! You owe me more time!"

Time just smirked, and said, "Underling, you are not very amusing."

Meg opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Instead she crossed her arms to think.

Time just said, "Come with me."

Meg stood up, and followed him out of the room back into the hallway.

He walked through the dimly lit hall to a large opening, almost like a lobby, and walked inside.

The large lobby-like structure looked almost ordinary until you looked up at the wall facing the rest of the hallway.

Mounted up on it was an enormous golden clock, not unlike the one that was set in Time's own chest.

Meg looked up in awe of the beautiful machine, but Time just said, "This is the Grand Clock of All Time. The Chronosphere powers the clock. If you remove it, Time stops. So, to answer your question, no, you may not borrow it. Good day."

The wonder of the clock was swept away as Meg processed those last words.

She frowned, more in disappointment than anger, and watched as Time walked away in a flurry of those gray furs.

She almost ran after him, but the clearer part of her conscience told her to just leave, that she might think of something else on the walk home.

She headed out from in front of the Grand Clock, and walked slowly towards the door to the outside when suddenly a loud booming voice screeched through the silence of the hall, "TICK TOCK! WHERE ARE YOU? TICK TOCK!"

Meg dived behind one of the many columns in the hall and watched from the shadows as the speaker continued calling; "TICK TOCK! WHERE ARE YOU TICK TOCK!"

Meg watched on as Iracebeth herself, whom she recognized from the vegetable kingdom, stepped into her line of vision, flanked by two of her vegetable guards.

The Red Queen walked down a seperate hallway, screeching for 'Tick Tock' to reveal himself, and an odd thought crept into Meg's mind.

 _"I'm guessing that this Tick Tock fellow is Time, and if she keeps him occupied for long enough, then I can steal the Chronosphere!"_

She waited until the Red Queen had disappeared entirely down one of the many cavernous hallways, then snuck back towards the Grand Clock.

She examined the front of the clock for some opening that she could get inside by, and found a small bronze door near the floor.

Meg knelt down to the door's level, and opened it with a little push, peering down the miniature hallway behind it, and confirming that it did indeed lead to the inside of the clock.

She crawled inside on her hands and knees until she emerged from the hallway.

The chamber she came into was large and bronze and filled with machinery and gears and an echoing ticking noise that pounded on Meg's ears.

Her eyes scanned the chamber for a brief second before she saw a bright blue light towards the center.

She squinted her eyes and saw that the blue light was in fact the Chronosphere.

She pumped her fist in a brief moment of victory before deciding how she was going to reach the center of the chamber to retrieve it.

She scanned the room again before noticing she had to jump between each of the large swinging pendalums in front of her.

She backed up a great bit to give herself a running start, then ran with all of her might towards the first pendalum.

At first it felt as if she would lose her grip on the metal stem of the pendalum, but she held on and leapt to the next one.

Before she could fall, she launched herself at the next one, clinging to it with all her might.

She leapt towards the platform, landing hard on her knees.

Suddenly, she heard the Red Queen behind her, "NOOO! GET HER, _GET HER!_ "

Time frantically yelled as Meg scrambled away, "Seconds into minutes! _Seconds into minutes!_ "

Meg ran towards the end of the platform, and was confronted with about ten rows of rotating gears.

She leapt across them, trying not to get flung off of them down into the strange abyss beneath her.

She safely ran onto the next platform, and looked behind her at the approaching threat.

Behind her, the clumsy little Minutes had turned into large, roaring Minutes that followed her with stunning ease.

Meg screamed and shimmied down the thin ladder that led to the next platform.

She ran towards the rotating gears that held the Chronosphere in the center, and grabbed it from its tiny pedastal.

She rolled it to the ground gently, and was surprised to see that it grew into a large circular machine with a space inside just large enough for a driver.

She clamoured inside, and pulled the lever that was conveniently labeled "Pull Me".

The Chronosphere lifted off from the giant gear just as the Minutes reached her, and shakily ascended towards the large window on the other side of the chamber.

The Red Queen screeched, "NOOOOOO!" as Meg and the Chronosphere disappeared through a large fold in time.

* * *

 _A/N:_ Sorry it took so long to upload this one! No, I'm not dead... :(


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